Sweden cancels agreement with Elsevier

While Finland entered into a nationwide consortium with the publishing house Elsevier, the neighbouring country Sweden did not take this step. After twenty years of business relationships with Elsevier, the Bibsam Consortium decided not to renew the agreement with the scientific publisher. Bibsam wants to support the Swedish government’s requirement to publish all scientific output of the country in Open Access by 2026 – without embargoes.

“- Immediate open access to all articles published in Elsevier journals by researchers affiliated to participating organisations – Reading access for participating organisations to all articles in Elsevier’s 1,900 journals – A sustainable price model that enables a transition to open access”

As Elsevier has not offered a model that meets these demands the Bibsam Consortium will not renew the agreements with Elsevier, which end on 30 June. According to openaccess.se Swedish researchers publish about 4 000 articles per year in Elsevier journals an in 2017 € 1,3 million was spent on article processing charges. Additionally € 12 million were spend on licensing fees for reading the Elsevier content.